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On August 4, 1789, the National Constituent Assembly abolished feudalism and Church tithes, ending privileges of nobles and clergy. Church property was nationalized to solve the financial crisis, and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790) made clergy state employees. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Aug 26, 1789) established liberty and equality. The Constitution of 1791 created a constitutional monarchy, ending the Assembly’s work.
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In May 1789, facing financial crisis, Louis XVI convened the Estates General in Versailles, uniting clergy, nobility, and commoners to discuss new taxes and reforms. The Third Estate, frustrated by inequality and the king’s weak response, soon took control, forming the National Assembly. This event marked the beginning of the French Revolution. -
On 20 June 1789, after being locked out of their meeting hall, the deputies of the Third Estate gathered in the Real Tennis Room at Versailles and swore not to separate until France had a Constitution. This Oath of the Real Tennis Room marked the birth of French democracy, the creation of the National Constituent Assembly, and paved the way for the abolition of feudalism and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. -
On 14 July 1789, Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress to seize gunpowder, marking the start of the French Revolution. After fierce fighting, the prison fell, its seven inmates freed, and its governor killed. Though largely symbolic, the event became a powerful symbol of liberty and is celebrated as France’s national day, representing the fall of tyranny and the rise of popular revolt. -
On 4 August 1789, the National Constituent Assembly passed the August Decrees, abolishing feudalism, noble privileges, and tax exemptions in France. Sparked by peasant unrest, nobles renounced their rights in a show of unity. Though not all measures took effect immediately, the decrees marked the end of the Ancient Régime and laid the foundation for equality and modern human rights. -
Adopted on 26 August 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, inspired by the Enlightenment and the American Declaration of Independence, proclaimed liberty, equality, property, and resistance to oppression as natural rights. It affirmed sovereignty of the nation, freedom of speech, equality before the law, and separation of powers, becoming a foundation of modern democracy and French constitutional law. -
The Legislative Assembly (1791–1792) faced deep divisions between royalists (Feuillants) and revolutionaries (Girondins). Distrusted for plotting with foreign powers, Louis XVI vetoed decrees against émigrés and non-juring priests. The Assembly declared war on Austria (April 1792), worsening unrest. Economic hardship and royal betrayal fueled radicalism, leading to the fall of the monarchy on August 10, 1792, and paving the way for the National Convention.
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In June 1791, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette attempted to flee Paris but were captured in Varennes and brought back. The failed escape destroyed trust in the monarchy, split revolutionaries between constitutional monarchists and republicans, and fueled fears of foreign invasion, leading to the French Revolutionary Wars. It marked a turning point toward the fall of the monarchy and the king’s execution in 1793. -
The National Convention (1792–1795) abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the First French Republic. It tried and executed Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, defeated internal revolts, and created the Committee of Public Safety under Robespierre, leading to the Reign of Terror (1793–1794). After Robespierre’s fall in 1794, the more moderate Thermidorian Reaction took power, ending the Terror and establishing the Directory in 1795.
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In 1791, the Legislative Assembly replaced the National Assembly, creating 83 departments, a new judicial system, and reforms to centralize France. It faced crises from Louis XVI's failed Flight to Varenne (1791) and growing unrest. The Girodins, a republican faction, pushed the war on Austria (1792) , worsening instability. After attacks on the monarchy, the royal family was imprisoned in Le Temple and later the Conciergerie, where Marie Antoinette awaited execution. -
On 10 August 1792, Parisian revolutionaries and sans-culottes stormed the Tuileries Palace, massacring the Swiss Guards and forcing Louis XVI to seek refuge in the Legislative Assembly. The attack ended the monarchy’s power, marking the rise of the radical phase of the Revolution and paving the way for the First French Republic and the king’s eventual execution. -
In December 1792, Louis XVI was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of high treason, and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. His death ended a thousand years of monarchy, marked the birth of the French Republic, and radicalized the Revolution, leading to the Reign of Terror and the expansion of the French Revolutionary Wars across Europe. -
The Coup of 9 Thermidor (27–28 July 1794) ended the Reign of Terror and Jacobin rule when Robespierre and his allies were arrested and executed by guillotine. Fearing for their lives, members of the National Convention turned against him after he intensified the Terror with the Law of 22 Prairial. His fall marked the end of radical revolution, beginning the Thermidorian Reaction and a more moderate phase of the French Revolution. -
The French Directory (1795–1799) replaced the Reign of Terror to restore stability but faced economic crisis, corruption, and unrest. Ruled by five directors under the Constitution of Year III, it balanced power between two legislative councils. Despite military victories and Napoleon’s rise, it was unpopular and overthrown in Napoleon’s Coup of 18 Brumaire (1799), ending the Revolution and beginning the Consulate.
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The French Consulate (1799–1804), led by Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul, ended the Revolution and restored stability after years of chaos. Napoleon centralized power, achieved victories at Marengo and Amiens, and introduced lasting reforms like the Concordat (1801) and the Napoleonic Code (1804). Though it brought order and peace, it marked France’s shift from republicanism to empire under Emperor Napoleon I.
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In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, expanding his empire across Europe. After victories like Austerlitz (1805), his power peaked, but defeats in Spain (1808), Russia (1812), and Leipzig (1813) led to his fall. Exiled to Elba (1814), he briefly returned during the Hundred Days (1815) before his final defeat at Waterloo, ending his rule. Despite his downfall, his era brought economic growth and agricultural progress to France.
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Battle of Austerlitz, Dec 2 1805 near Brno (Moravia). Napoleon’s 73 000 defeated 85 700 Austro-Russians under Kutuzov. Feigning weakness, Napoleon lured them from the Pratzen plateau, then struck the exposed center. Davout, Soult, Lannes, Murat, and Bernadotte crushed the allies in under 9 hours. French: 1 500 killed, 7 000 wounded; Allies: 27 000 losses, 11 000 captured, 185 guns lost. Led to the Treaty of Pressburg and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. -
Battle of Trafalgar (October 21, 1805) — Off Cape Trafalgar, Spain, the British fleet (27 ships) under Admiral Nelson defeated the Franco-Spanish fleet (33 ships) led by Villeneuve. Nelson was killed, but Britain lost no ships while France and Spain lost 22. The victory ended Napoleon’s plans to invade Britain and established British naval supremacy for over a century. Casualties: Allies 6,800, British 1,600. -
Battle of Leipzig (Oct 16–19 1813, Saxony). Also called the Battle of the Nations, it pitted Napoleon’s 190 000 against 330 000 Prussian, Austrian, Russian, and Swedish troops under Blücher, Schwarzenberg, and Bernadotte. After fierce multi-day fighting around Leipzig, Napoleon was decisively defeated, losing 38 000 killed or wounded and 20 000 captured. The victory ended French domination in Germany and led to the collapse of Napoleon’s empire in central Europe. -
Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815, near Brussels, Belgium):
Napoleon’s French army fought the Allied forces under Wellington and Blücher. Despite early advances, French attacks failed; the late arrival of the Prussians decided the outcome. Napoleon was decisively defeated, ending his rule and the Napoleonic Wars.